'Neither side is doing all it can yet'

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00:00Iris, getting to you, can you tell us more about what Benjamin Netanyahu had to say?

00:03Yes, I can tell you that he was speaking in English, I think not for the people of Lebanon.

00:08I think this was a message for the international community because it ends with, this is going

00:13to be short, you can return to your homes.

00:16The people of Lebanon, as we heard from our Beirut correspondent, they got those messages

00:20this morning, you know, on their phones that one of the Lebanese telcos said there were

00:2480,000 calls made from Israel telling people to leave.

00:29You could see the size of the movement of people.

00:32There were even apparently interruptions of Lebanese radio stations by Israel with the

00:38message, you know, get out now, get out while you're safe.

00:41We've just heard from the Defence Force spokesperson, that's the Israeli Defence Force spokesperson,

00:47Daniel Hagari.

00:48This is the third time he's spoken today.

00:51Earlier, he told the people of southern Lebanon they had to go.

00:55After that, he said, the size of the explosions you're seeing are because we're hitting stockpiles

01:01of weapons.

01:03That's what you see going up in, you know, in these explosions that you are seeing in

01:07southern Lebanon.

01:08And what we just heard from him now was a confirmation that there have been 1,300 targets

01:13struck and he showed pictures of some houses where the launchers are actually in the roofs

01:20of the houses, you know, heading out.

01:23I think what is significant about this, this largest one-day attack since the 2006 war,

01:30since the Lebanon, the last, the second Lebanon war, I think what is significant is that nevertheless

01:36neither side is doing all it can yet.

01:40Israel is not hitting the long range precision guided missiles that Hezbollah has.

01:45Hezbollah is not firing them.

01:46It's not hitting central Tel Aviv, central Jerusalem, even though I do hear the planes

01:50going overhead.

01:52So the question is, where does this go as both sides escalate, still trying to hold

01:58themselves back a little?

01:59Is that maintainable, sustainable in such a situation?

02:03Iris, you mentioned 1,300 Hezbollah targets hit by Israel today.

02:07Tell us about Hezbollah's response.

02:10We've heard now, just now, that there's been over 200 rockets fired into Israel.

02:16Initially, in the first days of this war of attrition, it was about 500,000 people who

02:23were within the range of the rockets that Hezbollah fired.

02:27Now there's a million and a half people.

02:29Israel has closed schools.

02:32It's moved hospitals underground.

02:34It's closed airspace in the north of Israel so that the only thing that will be flying

02:39will be rockets and Israeli military planes and intercepts, of course.

02:43So there will be no accidents with civilian aircraft.

02:47Everything is on an emergency footing.

02:49They're building field hospitals in the north of the country.

02:52So you really do feel that they're preparing for a war, even though you still see from

02:59the fact that it is an escalation, but not a full escalation.

03:04You do still see that both sides are not using their full force.

03:11It's plain that Washington doesn't want this at this moment or indeed at all.

03:15It's not clear what Iran wants, but they are currently reaching out feelers to Washington

03:20saying they want to negotiate or renegotiate the nuclear arms deal.

03:26So perhaps they don't want this at this time either.

03:29And because you've got the two sponsors, if you like, not keen on a war now, perhaps there

03:35won't be that full scale war that could lead, it's estimated conservatively, to thousands

03:40dead on both sides, possibly tens of thousands.

03:43The Israeli military operation continues in the Gaza Strip.

03:46I think it's worthwhile pointing it out to people.

03:48The pressure for a peace deal then becomes even more important.

03:53It does, because in many ways, the diplomatic solution depends on a peace deal in Gaza.

03:59What Hezbollah has said all along is that if there is the war in Gaza stops, then they

04:04stop firing.

04:05I don't know if that's still the situation after the past week, but nevertheless, up

04:08to the past week, up to this escalation, that was their position all along.

04:13So what people here are saying, what people who are interested in diplomatic solutions,

04:17what we're hearing from Europe, what we're hearing from Washington, is that the key to

04:21this is a resolution of the war in Gaza, which would mean a resolution for Gaza, for the

04:27Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and for the North, that perhaps the solution has to be

04:33diplomatic with both sides, North and South.

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